Garment.



Patented luna ll, I90l. F. H. SPRAGUE.

G A 8 II E N T (Application. filed Feb. 10, l 900.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

FREDERICK Il. SPRAGUE, OF ORANGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

GARMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 675,985, dated June 1 1, 1901. Application filed February 10, 1900. Serial No. 4,712. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LFREDERICK H. SPRAGUE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Orange, county of Franklin, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Garments, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to a garment; and the object of the invention is to provide an article of this kind having means inside the same to support the trousers or an undergarment, the supporting means being thereby hidden from view, so as not to detract from the appearance of said garment, this being important when the article is worn as a vest or as an exposed or outside covering.

While the invention is not limited in its application to any particular kind of garment, it is shown in connection with a vest, and in this case it has means inside the same to support either the trousers or the drawers, thereby rendering the use of suspenders unnecessary, and as the vest has a wide bearing upon the shoulders the weight or pull of the trousers upon the shoulders is distributed uniformly over a wide area, and the same peculiarity follows at and upon the shoulderblades.

I have represented the improvement as applied to a vest, and said vest may have a plurality of interior garment-supports. As these latter are inside the vest, the material of the latter hides or incloses these supports when the vest is fastened or buttoned upon the wearer. These supports may be of any suitable character, and for simplicity and cheapness they may consist of a plurality of tabs adapted to be buttoned to the garment to be upheld. The improved garment also has means to receive a suitable collar-button to hold a collar in the garment.

In the drawings showing the improvement in one simple embodiment thereof, Figure 1 is a front view of a vest closed; and Fig. 2, a similar view of said vest open, showing it equipped with a plurality of garmentsupports, one of which is turned up.

A denotes a double-breasted vest having a neck-opening 2 and the usual arm-openings 3 and 4C. The vest, or it may be an outer garment, is furnished with means to sustain a second garment, and the garment-supporting means are inclosed by the vest, so as to be out of sight when the latter is buttoned or fastened upon the wearer, and said means uphold the supported garment in such manner as to evenly distribute the strain exerted thereby and to be in no wise uncomfortable.

The means for supporting the garment is shown as a plurality of tabs 5, secured in some convenient manner to the vest A and of suitable material or length, either elastic or non-elastic, and of any desired number.

As a means for strengthening the garment and preventing the same from tearing or rupturing under the stress exerted thereon when the tabs are in operation I prefer to secure said tabs to a stay, as 6. This is represented in Fig. 2 as extending practically entirely across the inside of the vest, and it may be of the material usually employed in cases where extra strength is demandedsuch, for example, as heavy tape. The upper ends of the tabs may be secured in any convenient manner between the stay material 6 and the material composing the vest, stitching being a simple way of uniting the several parts. The tabs are, for simplicity, buttoned to the garment to be sustained, and while it is in no wise essential they are shown as having buttons, the same being denoted at 7 in each case. These buttons are adapted to enter properly-position ed buttonholes upon the garment to be upheld, from which it will be understood that the tabs are detachably connected to such garments. The tabs, it will be seen, are not only disposed within the vest A, but their lower ends are above the lower edge of the vest, so that the material of said vest will fully hide them.

The vest will be put on in the usual manner and when in place the rear tabs may be buttoned up. Afterward the same operation will be repeated with the front ones,and thereafter the vest itself will be buttoned.

To insure the proper set of the vest upon the wearer, I provide one or more tabs or equivalent means whereby the garment can be connected with a collar or other button at the front or rear of the neck of the wearer or at both places. I have shown two of these tabs, the same being denoted by 8 and 9, respectively, and both of them are conveniently stitched to the vest adjacent to the neck-opening 2. The tabs have buttonholes, as S and and 9", adapted to receive, respectively, the shanks of the front and rear collar-buttons or, it may be, other buttons.

The invention is capable of modification within the scope of the accompanying claim.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A vest or like garment having a plurality of tabs secured to the inner side thereof at points above the lower edge of the vest and freely l pendent therefrom, a reinforce stay-piece secured to the vest and attached also to the I fixed ends of the tabs at the point of their connection with the vest, each tab above its free end being provided with means whereby it may be secured to another garment and tabs at the front and back of the vest near 1 the upper edge thereof to support collar-fastenings to hold the collar in place with relation to the vest when the latter is pulled by the garment supported by it.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK II. SPRAGUE.

\Vitnesses:

l WALTER 1;. LAw'roN,

l ROBERT S. KELLERMAN. 

